Editor | William Lyon Mackenzie |
---|---|
First issue | May 18, 1824 |
Final issue | November 1834 |
Based in | York, Upper Canada |
OCLC | 977184637 |
The Colonial Advocate was a weekly political journal published in Upper Canada during the 1820s and 1830s. First published by William Lyon Mackenzie on May 18, 1824, the journal frequently attacked the Upper Canada aristocracy known as the "Family Compact", which governed the province. Over its twelve years in publication, Mackenzie explicitly advocated constitutional change to resemble a more American government with the principles of responsible government, and working for the greater good of the people. The Colonial Advocate was used as a voice for constitutional reform, educating and inspiring citizens to take action against their government, making Mackenzie and his paper an important leader in the formation of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.
The first edition of the Colonial Advocate was published on May 18, 1824, in Queenston, Canada. [1] Within the year, Mackenzie relocated to York (what is now Toronto) and set up his offices there. The Colonial Advocate became the foundation for Mackenzie's political life. It would give people the information they needed to form opinions of their own. Mackenzie believed with relevant information and having opportunities for discussion, citizens would form conclusions of their own. [2] He would blatantly state his views on members of government, using outward attacks including the names of specific people and established institutions. In a May 18, 1826 article, he attacked the Bank of Upper Canada as a "terrible engine in the hands of the provincial administration...entirely under the thumb of parson Strachan [an influential Anglican priest, mentor to many of the Colonial leaders and member of the Executive Council of Upper Canada] and his pupils." [3] He labelled the May 4, 1826 issue of the Colonial Advocate, the "latest and loudest blast of Colonial Advocate sounded in the ears of the people of Upper Canada," writing, "during the whole of our brief editorial campaign we have exercised with boldness the valuable privilege of thinking for ourselves; it may be here remarked that this boldness does not always attend the public exhibition of our countrymen; who are justly formed over the whole world for the more valuable quality of discretion." [2] Attacks such as these made him disliked - even hated - among the wealthy merchant and professional class of Upper Canada.
He believed that the main revenue and profit from the newspaper would come from subscription, and mocked newspapers like the Hamilton Western Mercury which were profitable through government advertising. He claimed these papers were "openly in the pay of those who have sought for thirty years to keep the people in ignorance, squander the fruits of their industry … who had dared to stand up for the British constitution and the good of the country." [4] He called the publishers "sycophants" and resentfully said of them, "these man fellows will bow and scrape, and fetch and carry." [4] He was not afraid to make enemies, he wanted to provide the public with enough information so they could form their own opinions. For this he would hide nothing, not accept briberies, and publish his newspaper to expose any hidden interest by Upper Canada's elite. In the first edition, he stated "far be it from us to desire to bring into disrepute the government of this country, yet we will not fail to point out their errors. Ridicule shall not be spared: It may effect our purpose when grave argument would fail. We will carefully go over the principal matters connected with his [Lieutnenant Governor Sir Peregrine Matiland's] administration… for the present we cannot remember anything he has done of a public nature worth recording." [2]
The reform movement began to gain strength in the early 1830s. After Mackenzie had received a large settlement from the Types Riot (see below), and had described the members of the Family Compact as driven solely by self-interest, the paper began to take a leading role in the Upper Canada Rebellion.
As stated before, public availability of information was important to Mackenzie throughout his entire political life. In the first issue of the Colonial Advocate, he stated its purpose: "We have made our election; it is to have only one patron, and that patron is the People -- the people of the British Colonies". [2] On September 22, 1831, he defined the purpose of publication as "to do the people's business and check and expose speculation and official knavery". [2]
Mackenzie's editorials spoke out on whatever he was feeling. The Colonial Advocate was widely read, and it was said "to read the Advocate would to be sure of finding remarks that had been better left unsaid." [4] Mackenzie was daring, he was forward, and unafraid to speak his mind. While the Colonial Advocate did publish more than politics, Mackenzie's interests shone through. He was "obsessed with the need for honest and efficient government, and for government that would respond immediately to the criticism and the wishes and the welfare of the people." [4] Through the Colonial Advocate, Mackenzie and other early newspapers made democracy possible "at the level where it matters most -- the exchange of ideas in the neighborhood, the serious but not necessarily solemn conversation among friends" [4] For this, he would criticize the Family Compact, bringing to attention the imbalance of power the group held.
From the beginning of its publication, the paper showed Mackenzie as a business man interested in practical improvements for the colony. It encouraged citizens to press for a representative form of government, and within his first year of publication began advocating for confederation of the British North American Colonies. He mocked the current government claiming that it had no respect for the person, and did not represent the interests of the average citizen and over well-being of society but the interests of the upper-class men. [5] The economy of Upper Canada in the early 1820s was not prosperous for Canadians. For merchants, business was slow, little money was being invested, and when compared to the United States, the situation appeared much worse [6] Mackenzie believed that the Americans were developing because of the willingness of the government and private executives to spend money. Unlike in the US, wealthy British statesmen were not willing to invest in the economy, and at the time, investors were needed to jump start Canadian development.
He especially admired the democratic system of the American government. As the reform movement accelerated in the 1830s, more Americans were immigrating north and were influencing this revolution. [3] On May 18, 1826, he published an article praising the US in which he claims any political liberalism that has come to the province was, "owing chiefly to our neighborhood to the United States, and the independent principles brought into the colony with them by the settlers from thence…" [7]
During the decade preceding the rebellion, Mackenzie advocated many reforms relating to the banking system, custom dues, heavy legal fees, education, the postal service, jury selection. [8] He criticized the powers of the appointed justices, the granting of corporate privileges ultimately leading to the bitter relationship between Mackenzie and the group of officials named "The Family Compact." [8] At the beginning of his political career, Mackenzie called himself a "whig of 88" which represented the particular British constitutional idea of government known as Whiggery—which is largely what we have in Canada today. It is the idea that responsible government is an essential part of a constitutional monarchy. [3] However his political views begin to change and began to admire the American political regime. In the first edition of the Colonial Advocate, he writes, "we would never wish to see British America an appendage of the American presidency; yet we would wish to see British American thrive and prosper as well does that presidency." [9] Having lived there for a few years, Mackenzie got to experience first hand this sort of democracy. [10]
On January 3, 1828, he published article titled "We The People" further discussing constitutional reform, ""the constitution of a country is not the act of its government, nor of any distant authority, but of the people constituting a government suited to their necessities -- a constitution contains the principles on which the government shall be established" [11] once again displaying his desire to have a government that supports the people.
As society was developing, there became a higher demand for education. Based on the principles of responsible government, education was a struggle. [12] This was for two main reasons. First, one of the main arguments arguing against responsible government was that there were not enough educated people who should be a part of government. On September 22, 1831, the Colonial Advocate published, "we have been informed that in the most populous country township in the home district there is not at this time of the year more than one school of ten scholars, altho' the number of persons between 6 and 16 is over 600!!!" Mackenzie then highlighted how this was part of the Family Compact's plan to stay in control, "this is the best practical commentary upon Dr. Strachan's system of education for keeping the great mass of people in ignorance and educating and instructing a few sons of pensioners and placement to hold them in the chains of mental bondage." [12] Second, keeping education under the rule of the Church of England sustained English rule in Canada. Strachan obtained permission from the Colonial Office to create a university, he saw it is as a place to "groom the ruling elite". [12] However Mackenzie immediately sent a letter to the Governor General of Canada at the time, Lord Dalhousie, to get it revoked. He believed that education should be open to everyone, and as described in his is political pamphlet, "Catechisms of Education," he claimed "political education consists in a right understanding of the science of government… an agent employed in the forming the character of man...the strength of the whole depends on it". [12] Mackenzie ensued the Colonial Advocate once again to attack Strachan and the Family Compact's ideals, and voiced these opinions through his papers and other publications.
On September 16, 1830, the Colonial Advocate wrote, "there is a natural aristocracy among men, founded on virtue and talents; and there is artificial aristocracy, founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talent". [9] His disrespect for this aristocracy of which he speaks was never hidden. The family compact is a slanderous or disparaging name given to a group of aristocratic officials in Upper Canada during the 1820s to 1830s. It emerged after the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, immigrated to Canada and attempted to create an aristocracy by appointing his Loyalist friends to government posts and giving them land. [13] The compact was coined with the term 'family' as the members were all linked by family, patronage, and shared political and social beliefs all to favor the mercantile upper class. They were members of executive and legislative councils, held senior bureaucratic positions, and were part of the judiciary of Upper Canada. [13]
It held conservative views, opposing Mackenzie and the Colonial Advocate. The Family Compact idealized British institutions such as a balanced constitution (powers divided between the Crown and executive and the elected assembly), a hierarchal society, and an established church. As the reform movement began to develop in the 1830s, the group began to see these reformers, influenced by the Colonial Advocate, as a threat to their power.
The family compact held a great deal of influence and power in Upper Canada. At this time, the Canadian government was split into three parts, each of which the Family Compact members were a part of and held high positions. First was the legislative assembly, an elected body with a broad franchise that included essentially all men who owned property. [2] Second, there was the legislative council, an appointed body that was similar to a house of lords. [2] Members were appointed by the Lieutenant Governor Council, and were not directly responsible to the assembly (the decisions of the assembly on the other hand, needed ratification to become effective) and had the power to 'veto' anything they disapproved. This was a key feature in the imbalance of power of the legislative council; members used this power frequently, diminishing power of the elected assembly. [2] Third was the Executive Council. Members were appointed by and were responsible to the Lieutenant Governor during their term, and the Governor and his advisors were in control of all decisions. [2] The executive council is different from the modern cabinet in that its members were individually responsible to the governor general, rather than collectively responsible to the representatives of the people. [4] They did not represent the majority of the population, nor did they need a majority support for their decisions, and they were almost never asked to resign. [4] At this time, the legislative assembly was the most democratic (in the sense that members were elected) but with the power of the Councils to 'veto' anything they did not approve of, it also made the assembly the least powerful. This meant that the departments of civil service, not headed by members of council, were overlooked by the government. [4] This was a complaint from Mackenzie as well as other members of legislature; that the civil society was underrepresented and the Family Compact had an unfair amount of power in legislature. The solution to this problem was the concept of responsible government, which eventually became the principle of the Canadian governing system. [2] Mackenzie believed that this imbalance of power was further tainted by the Family Compact who held the key positions in government. [2]
According to Mackenzie, the Family Compact was "in control of decision making" in Upper Canada. [2] John Strachan was a very influential member of the Family Compact. He was the leading voice of the Anglican Church and was a member of both the legislative and executive council. In the edition of November 3, 1831 of the Colonial Advocate, Mackenzie called Strachan and the rest of the Family Compact members, "profiteering through government office" and a "vindictive family function." He stated, "the family connection [another name for Family Compact] rules Upper Canada, a dozen of nobodies and a few placement, pensioners and individuals of well known narrow and bigoted principles; the whole of the revenues of Upper Canada are in reality of their mercy; they are paymasters, receivers, auditors, kings, lords, and commons." Mackenzie believed that even worse than patronage, the Family Compact enlisted themselves a sense of entitlement and aristocracy that made them believe they had the best decision-making abilities for the 'ordinary' people of Upper Canada. [2] Mackenzie did not hesitate to express his views in his paper, a paper which reached a wide audience.
In 1833, Mackenzie published the names of all thirty members of the Family Compact. In this publication, he included their names, the family linkages, the government positions, and their annual income. [2] These members held the highest positions of Upper Canada; they were judges, sheriffs, and postmasters. The report listed members straight and to the point: "1. D'Arcy Boulton, Senior, a retired pensioner, £500, Sterling ." [2]
Mackenzie wrote of the Family Compact: "the 'thirty tyrants' proceed in their systematic efforts to destroy good legislative measures; … besides the salaries of its officers fixed by law and the places and pensions and salaries and other things, your property, which its members unjustly enjoy, the legislative council demanded out the public chest last winker, for silk curtains, velvet for their throne...three out of every for of your salient representatives sanctioning the act of plunder, of robbery I might say, but I like to use mild expressions". [2] Mackenzie spoke to the readers, directly addressing them to build his relationship with the readers.
On June 8, 1826, a group of young men were seen breaking into the Colonial Advocate's office late at night while Mackenzie was out of town on business. Most of these men were law students, lawyers, and respected businessmen. The men terrorized Mackenzie's wife and son, and the employees; they wrecked the press and threw his type in the nearby bay. [14] Outside the building stood more than one magistrate witnessing the attacks without interfering. [14] Attorney general John Beverly Robinson neither disciplined the lawyers or law students nor prosecuted them in any court. Nor did he attempt to make them pay compensation for any damages done to the Colonial Advocate's office. Mackenzie used this ruling to further display the unfair advantage the Family Compact has over the government, and encouraged Mackenzie to continue his attacks on the group. [14] This incident became one of the many grievances that led to rebellion.
Although more of an attack than a "riot," the damages were plentiful. There were many witnesses, yet the eight men prosecuted went without criminal charges. This was believed to be due to their socioeconomic status. Mackenzie did not sit back and let this group of men go unpunished. He wrote a letter to the "Honourable Knights Citizens of Burgesses, representing the Commons of the United Kingdom and Britain and Ireland" describing the details of the riot, and the unfair results of the judiciary. After going back and suing the rioters, this time with more witnesses and with a legal team, he was able to succeed, earning Mackenzie enough money to repair the damage and more. This money re-established the Colonial Advocate.
All this negative press was creating a bad image for the Family Compact members. Soon after, Samuel Jarvis, a member of the Family Compact and a convicted rioter, published "The Statement of Facts Relating to the Trespass on the Printing Press in the Possession of Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie" which addressed the public and particularly the subscribers of the Colonial Advocate. Afraid of the reputation he had gained from these riots, he felt it upon himself to try and excuse his actions. "I cannot, in justice to myself, or to those implicated through my indiscretion, remain longer silent, and quietly witness this second attempt at imposition, without an effort to counteract its wicked and mischievous tendency" and continues, "I had sufficient experience of the uncompromising baseness of Mr. Mackenzie's disposition, and could not doubt he would descend to the meanest and most contemptible artifices, and use the most strenuous exertions to paralyze the effect which a candid and indgenuous relation of facts was calculated to produce on the minds of a generous and impartial public." [15] This publication demonstrates the believed power of the Colonial Advocate. Members of the Family Compact feared its ability to influence readers and the general public, and for this they decided the need to attack it in attempts to scare it away.
The Colonial Advocate began as Mackenzie's first political endeavour. It became a voice for him to display his own political agenda and thoughts, made him known throughout Upper Canada (although not necessarily well-liked among all groups), as well as allowed him to gain a support group for constitutional reform. The Colonial Advocate created new stream of thought for the citizens of Upper Canada, bringing to attention the government of the United States to highlight different ways of governance for the benefit of the people, as well as displaying the injustices and inequalities condoned by The Family Compact. The Colonial Advocate became a "vehicle for theoretical sovereignty" instigating resulting in activism in Upper Canada. The last issue of Colonial Advocate was published in November 1834. [16] [1]
A year before the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion, Mackenzie wrote what would summarize his belief on newspapers and politics: "one thing is certain, no free popular government can exist unless people are informed. An ignorant republic would surely degenerate into a most corrupt and hateful government." [2]
The Province of Upper Canada was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Quebec since 1763. Upper Canada included all of modern-day Southern Ontario and all those areas of Northern Ontario in the Pays d'en Haut which had formed part of New France, essentially the watersheds of the Ottawa River or Lakes Huron and Superior, excluding any lands within the watershed of Hudson Bay. The "upper" prefix in the name reflects its geographic position along the Great Lakes, mostly above the headwaters of the Saint Lawrence River, contrasted with Lower Canada to the northeast.
York was a town and the second capital of the colony of Upper Canada. It is the predecessor to the old city of Toronto (1834–1998). It was established in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as a "temporary" location for the capital of Upper Canada, while he made plans to build a capital near today's London, Ontario. Simcoe renamed the location York after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, George III's second son. Simcoe gave up his plan to build a capital at London, and York became the permanent capital of Upper Canada on February 1, 1796. That year Simcoe returned to Britain and was temporarily replaced by Peter Russell.
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented York County in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and aligned with Reformers. He led the rebels in the Upper Canada Rebellion; after its defeat, he unsuccessfully rallied American support for an invasion of Upper Canada as part of the Patriot War. Although popular for criticising government officials, he failed to implement most of his policy objectives. He is one of the most recognizable Reformers of the early 19th century.
The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada, which started the previous month, that emboldened rebels in Upper Canada to revolt.
The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in Lower Canada. It was noted for its conservatism and opposition to democracy.
The Rebellions of 1837–1838, were two armed uprisings that took place in Lower and Upper Canada in 1837 and 1838. Both rebellions were motivated by frustrations with lack of political reform. A key shared goal was responsible government, which was eventually achieved in the incidents' aftermath. The rebellions led directly to Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America and to the Act of Union 1840 which partially reformed the British provinces into a unitary system and eventually led to the British North America Act, 1867, which created the contemporary Canadian federation and its government.
Anthony Van Egmond was purportedly a Dutch Napoleonic War veteran. He became one of the first settlers and business people in the Huron Tract in present-day southwestern Ontario Canada. Van Egmond became an early contractor employed by the Canada Company to construct the original 74-kilometre (46 mi) road into the new settlement, allowing the entry of settlers for the purchase of company lands and further economic development. He eventually became a supporter of William Lyon Mackenzie and led a force of armed rebels in their unsuccessful skirmish at Montgomery's Tavern near Toronto on 7 December 1837, during the Upper Canada Rebellion.
John Strachan was a notable figure in Upper Canada, an "elite member" of the Family Compact, and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government positions and promoted education from common schools to helping to found the University of Toronto.
The Bank of Upper Canada was established in 1821 under a charter granted by the legislature of Upper Canada in 1819 to a group of Kingston merchants. The charter was appropriated by the more influential Executive Councillors to the Lt. Governor, the Rev. John Strachan and William Allan, and moved to Toronto. The bank was closely associated with the group that came to be known as the Family Compact, and it formed a large part of their wealth. The association with the Family Compact and its underhanded practices made Reformers, including Mackenzie, regard the Bank of Upper Canada as a prop of the government. Complaints about the bank were a staple of Reform agitation in the 1830s because of its monopoly and aggressive legal actions against debtors.
Henry Sherwood, was a lawyer and Tory politician in the Province of Canada. He was involved in provincial and municipal politics. Born into a Loyalist family in Brockville in Augusta Township, Upper Canada, he studied law and was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1828. In 1838, he was appointed Queen's Counsel. Sherwood was part of the Family Compact, the inter-connected families of strong British and Loyalist sympathies which dominated the government of Upper Canada in the early years of the 19th century
Samuel Lount was a blacksmith, farmer, magistrate and member of the Legislative Assembly in the province of Upper Canada for Simcoe County from 1834 to 1836. He was an organizer of the failed Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, for which he was hanged as a traitor. His execution made him a martyr to the Upper Canadian Reform movement.
Thomas David Morrison was a doctor and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Quebec City around 1796 and worked as a clerk in the medical department of the British Army during the War of 1812. He studied medicine in the United States and returned to York in 1824 to become a doctor in Upper Canada. He treated patients and served on the Toronto Board of Health during the 1832 and 1834 cholera outbreaks and co-founded the York Dispensary. In 1834 he was elected to the 12th Parliament of Upper Canada, representing the third riding of York County as part of the reform movement. That same year he was elected as an alderman to the Toronto City Council and reelected the subsequent two years. In 1836, he served a term as mayor of Toronto.
John Rolph was a Canadian physician, lawyer, and political figure. As a politician, he was considered the leader of the Reform faction in the 1820s and helped plan the Upper Canada Rebellion. As a doctor, he founded several medical schools and incorporated new teaching techniques and medical practices into his lectures. However, his actions against rival medical schools decreased public confidence in the ability of medical professionals to regulate themselves.
Henry John Boulton, was a lawyer and political figure in Upper Canada and the Province of Canada, as well as Chief Justice of Newfoundland.
James Hervey Price was a Canadian attorney and political figure in Canada West. He was born and grew up in Cumberland, United Kingdom, and studied law at Doctors' Commons. He moved to Upper Canada in 1828 and became an attorney in 1833. He was appointed the city of Toronto's first city clerk in 1834 and the following year built a house north of Toronto that he named Castlefield. In 1836 he was elected as a city councillor for St. David's Ward in Toronto but was defeated the following year. Although he considered himself a Reformer, he did not participate in the Upper Canada Rebellion. In 1841 he was elected to the first Parliament of the Province of Canada, representing the 1st riding of York as a Reformer. He served as the commissioner of Crown lands from 1848 to 1851 when he was defeated in his reelection campaign for his seat in the Parliament. He withdrew from politics and worked as an attorney until his retirement in 1857. In 1860 he returned to Britain to Bath, and died in Shirley, Hampshire, in 1882.
Samuel Peters Jarvis was a Canadian government official in the nineteenth century. He was the Chief Superintendent for the Indian Department in Upper Canada (1837–1845), and he was a member of the Family Compact.
David Willson (1778–1866) was a religious and political leader who founded the Quaker sect known as, 'The Children of Peace' or 'Davidites,' based at Sharon in York County, Upper Canada in 1812. As the primary minister to this group, he led them in constructing a series of remarkable buildings, the best known of which is the Sharon Temple, now a National Historic Site of Canada. A prolific writer, sympathizer and leader of the movement for political reform in Upper Canada, Willson, together with his followers, ensured the election of William Lyon Mackenzie, and both "fathers of Responsible Government", Robert Baldwin and Louis LaFontaine, in their riding.
The Reform movement in Upper Canada was a political movement in British North America in the mid-19th century.
There were two types of corporations at work in the Upper Canadian economy: the legislatively chartered companies and the unregulated joint stock companies. These two business forms had different legal standing; chartered corporations had a "separate personality" - they were a legal person quite distinct from its members or shareholders, a legal fiction which protected those shareholders with limited liability. In contrast, joint stock companies were made illegal by the English Bubble Act of 1720. Joint stock companies were considered extensive partnerships under common law, and English legislation limited these to a maximum of six partners. Without incorporation, the company was not considered a "separate personality." It could not hold property; this was held by trustees, who usually had to provide a bond or security. Without incorporation, the company could neither sue nor be sued at law. And without incorporation, shareholders were personally responsible for the debts to the company to the full extent of their personal property; shareholders were not protected by limited liability. There were, then, significant legal hurdles that made the joint stock company an unwieldy form of partnership.
The Types Riot was the destruction of William Lyon Mackenzie's printing press and movable type by members of the Family Compact on June 8, 1826, in York, Upper Canada. The Family Compact was the ruling elite of Upper Canada who appointed themselves to positions of power within the Upper Canadian government. Mackenzie created the Colonial Advocate newspaper and published editorials in the paper that accused the Family Compact of incompetence and profiteering on corrupt practices, offending the rioters. It is not known who planned the riot, although Samuel Jarvis, a government official, later claimed he organized the event. On the evening of June 8, 9–15 rioters forced their way into the newspaper offices and destroyed property. During the event, Mackenzie's employees tried to get passersby to help stop the rioters. Bystanders refused to help when they saw government officials like William Allan and Stephen Heward were watching the spectacle. When the rioters finished destroying the office, they took cases of type with them and threw them into the nearby bay.